What’s your brow personality?

By all accounts, 2014 was the year of the strong brow, and the trend shows no sign of decelerating this year. But inertia, and our collective unwillingness to stop the course of a look in which we've already invested, doesn't mean full eyebrows will prove any exception to the lifecycle of a trend. What goes up must come down; what grows out must soon be plucked. All it will take is one "directional" Prada show featuring '90s style pencil brows, or the adoption of the counter-trend by one of our farsighted demigods like Mary-Kate Olsen or Chloë Sevigny, to make us all run for our tweezers. I don't know where it will come from, but I am waiting—in between threading appointments—until the tide turns.

For those of us born with what we might call "lush brows", who can forget the flush of realizing, sometime over the last two years, that by some accident we were not just on-trend, but a source of envy to our sparsely endowed friends? Suddenly I couldn't go to an event without being asked what brow gel, pencil, or treatment I used to fill in my arches. With the annoying insouciance of skinny girls who credit their physiques to a high metabolism, I could suddenly say, "nothing, I was just born with them."

Besides, who was I to deflate their efforts with the reality of having naturally full brows: biweekly trips to the threading salon, tiny scissors to keep the overeager bristles in check, and constant mirror checks to make sure an unruly brow didn't throw my eye makeup askew. It's totally unimaginable why anyone would want to hold themselves hostage to the recurring time bomb of fast-growing brows. But less unimaginable, I realized, in a world where basic facial features can become fads — as if we didn't have enough to aspire to between make-up, clothing, and general affect (looking at you, normcore and athleisure).

For what it's worth, my brows are in it for the long haul: from the near future when they're outmoded, to the far future when they're back in style. What I've found more relevant to my upkeep than runway brows du jour are Bollywood actresses and models, since the subcontinent has, over a couple thousand years, more or less patented the concept of fleek.

For many Indian women, it's as much a part of our lifestyle as kajal-turned-eyeliner; I've been getting my eyebrows done longer than I have been shaving my legs. And I've had some great excursions around the world in pursuit of threading, like to Paris's only reputable threading outpost in the lively 10th arrondissement.

So, nameless and powerful beauty arbiters, can we reach an impasse? The best "brow style" for you is the one closest to what you were born with. If you're still not convinced, check out the perennial brow game of these Indian screen sirens.

Kajol

With perhaps the most famous brows, or at times brow, to grace Indian cinema, Kajol has the nonchalant confidence of the one-named greats (see also: Madonna, Prince) to carry the ultimate natural look. While it's doubtful this inspired many copycats, Kajol can inspire the ficklest among us with the power of a signature, trend-proof look.

Image: Getty

Kangana Ranaut

Just as Ranaut pulls off her naturally curly hair—still an uncommon sight in Bollywood—with aplomb, her naturally full eyebrows suit her far better than the plucked-over ones she sported when she came onto the scene in the early 2000s (below, at the 2009 IIFA Awards).

Image: Getty

Deepika Padukone

I tried to find a photo of Padukone with imperfect eyebrows and came up short; of course, one doesn't exist. The most notable aspect of her overall impeccable brow game is the degree to which she embraces their natural length. Too-thin eyebrows are an obvious pitfall, but too-short ones (like in the perplexing new trend of Instagram eyebrows) are a secondary threat. Learn from Padukone and keep your brows as long or short as they want to be.

Image: Getty

Lakshmi Menon

Lest you think strong and dark brows are the only ones being celebrated on these pages, note the divine Kannadiga model Menon's sparse but shapely pair. I've always found eyebrow pencils to be a confusing product; they require an extremely deft hand and usually don't leave a face looking better than how they found them. Let's all take a cue from Menon to groom rather than preen.